The Reasons of Excessive Occurrences of Rape in Bangladesh: Examining the Socio-Legal Perspectives and Judicial Loopholes
Main Article Content
Md. Shah Jalal
Roksana Akther
Nazmul Hasan Mazumder*
Rape has become a significant socio-legal challenge in Bangladesh, and its persistent incident despite the present legal remedy needs a critical evaluation of the socio-legal perspectives and judicial lacking indulging to the crime. This study aims to evaluate reasons of excessive rape incidents from socio-legal perspectives by examining the underlying social reasons, legal default, judicial delay, and organizational lacking associated with rape cases in Bangladesh. It employs a qualitative socio-legal research method based on secondary sources like laws and policies, judicial precedent, academic journal, books, human rights reports, and newspaper. In this qualitative research the authors have tried to understand the various factors of excessive rape occurrences in Bangladesh and emphasizes the efficacy of existing legal framework, police investigations systems, forensic limitations, judicial delays, and survivor protection mechanisms regarding rape in Bangladesh. The finding of the study explains that rape in Bangladesh is deeply rooted in survivor blaming culture, economic conditions of sufferer, political interference, lack of organizational accountability, investigation default, lack of forensic facilities, low conviction ratio, secondary victimization of sufferer during legal process, and judicial delay for execution of judgment. It suggests that combating rape in Bangladesh needs an integrated socio-legal approach involving legal reform, organizational accountability, public awareness, survivor protection, avoid unnecessary query to victim, modernization of police investigation and update of forensic and judicial procedures.
Ain o Salish Kendra. (2026). Violence Against Women (Rape) Jan-May 2026. ASK. https://www.askbd.org/ask/2026/06/09/violence-against-women-rape-jan-may-2026/
Alam, M. F., Chowdhury, S. R., & Oakkas, M. A. (2026). Barriers to Justice for Rape Survivors in Bangladesh. In The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Problems (pp. 1–22). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68127-2_804-1
Alam, M. T., Abbas, A., Mutmainnah, I., & Tonny, S. A. (2023). Addressing the Legal Void: Ensuring Justice for Adult Male Rape Victims in Bangladesh. International Journal of Legal Information, 51(2), 105–116. https://doi.org/10.1017/jli.2023.20
Banarjee, S. (2020). Identifying factors of sexual violence against women and protection of their rights in Bangladesh. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 52, 101384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2020.101384
Bangladesh Mahila Parishad. (2024). Annual Report 2024. https://mahilaparishad.org/bmp-publications/annual-report-2024/
Barua, O. (2024). Secondary Victimization of Woman Victim: A Study in the Context of Bangladesh. Department of Law and Justice.
Barua, U., & Hossain, M. B. (2022). Patriarchy and the Rights of Rape Victims: Law and Practice. Lex Publica, 9(1), 79–93. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.58829/lp.9.1.2022.79-93
Beringmeier, M. (2018). The international crimes tribunal in Bangladesh: critical appraisal of legal framework and jurisprudence. BWV Verlag.
Beshears, M. L., Beshears, M. L., & Bond, M. (2019). Improving police social media use practices. Int’l J. Soc. Sci. Stud., 7, 34.
Campbell, R. (2005). What Really Happened? A Validation Study of Rape Survivors’ Help-Seeking Experiences With the Legal and Medical Systems. Violence and Victims, 20(1), 55–68. https://doi.org/10.1891/vivi.2005.20.1.55
Campbell, R., & Raja, S. (1999). Secondary Victimization of Rape Victims: Insights From Mental Health Professionals Who Treat Survivors of Violence. Violence and Victims, 14(3), 261–275. https://doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.14.3.261
Carroll, C. P. (2021). The ‘lottery’ of rape reporting: Secondary victimization and Swedish criminal justice professionals. Nordic Journal of Criminology, 22(1), 23–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/2578983X.2021.1900516
Engineer, A. A. (2001). Islam, Women, and Gender Justice. In What Men Owe to Women (pp. 109–128). SUNY Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780791491553-005
Ety, N. S., & Mia, B. (2024). Access to Justice for Women: A Comparative Study between Subarnachar and Begumganj Upazila of Noakhali District. Daengku: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Innovation, 4(5), 900–908. https://doi.org/10.35877/454ri.daengku2959
Ganguly, M. (2020). Death Penalty Not the Answer to Bangladesh’s Rape Problem: The Government Should Institute Real Reforms, Provide Services, Remove Barriers to Justice. HRW. https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/10/13/death-penalty-not-answer-bangladeshs-rape-problem
Haiqing, P., Ali, M. A., & Ferdous Syed, R. (2025). Harnessing clinical forensic medicine in rape investigations: Analyzing legal frameworks and practices in Bangladesh. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 83, 100791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlcj.2025.100791
Hasan, M. A., Akond, M. A., & Mohiuddin, A. (2024). Issues and Challenges in Investigating Rape Cases in Bangladesh: Insights from Field-Level Police Officers’ Experiences. Journal of Social and Political Sciences, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.31014/aior.1991.07.01.462
Herman, J. L. (2003). The mental health of crime victims: Impact of legal intervention. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 16(2), 159–166. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1022847223135
Hossain, M. (2020). Violence against women: An analysis of the laws of Bangladesh. https://doi.org/10.1891/088667007781553964>
Huda, T. (2022). “No signs of rape”: corroboration, resistance and the science of disbelief in the medico-legal jurisprudence of Bangladesh. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, 29(2), 2096186. https://doi.org/10.1080/26410397.2022.2096186
International Crisis Group. (2016). Political conflict, extremism and criminal justice in Bangladesh (Asia Report No. 277). https://www.crisisgroup.org/sites/default/files/277-political-conflict-extremism-and-criminal-justice-in-bangladesh.pdf
Islam, A. (2026). Rape cases pile up, justice slows. The Daily Sun. https://www.daily-sun.com/front-page/876536
Jewkes, R., Fulu, E., Roselli, T., & Garcia-Moreno, C. (2013). Prevalence of and factors associated with non-partner rape perpetration: findings from the UN Multi-country Cross-sectional Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific. The Lancet Global Health, 1(4), e208–e218. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2214-109x(13)70069-x
Jordan, J. (2004). Beyond belief? Police, rape and women’s credibility. Criminal Justice, 4(1), 29–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/1466802504042222
Khan, M. M. U. A. (2025). A comprehensive legal approach to the crime of rape. The Daily Star. https://www.thedailystar.net/law-our-rights/news/comprehensive-legal-approach-the-crime-rape-3847631
Lee, D., & James, S. (2012). The compassionate mind approach to recovering from trauma: Using compassion focused therapy. Hachette UK.
Mgoqi-Mbalo, N., Zhang, M., & Ntuli, S. (2017). Risk factors for PTSD and depression in female survivors of rape. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 9(3), 301–308. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000228
Miah, M. R. A., Shah, M. F., Swarna, S. H., & Rahman, L. (2025). Contemporary Trends of Domestic Violence against Women in Bangladesh: Unveiling Growth Patterns and Age-sensitivity. Rajshahi University Journal of Social Science and Business Studies, 27. https://doi.org/10.64102/rujssbs.0452
Moray Rape Crisis. (2023). Trauma. https://www.morayrapecrisis.scot/trauma/
Naznin, A. (2021). Women’s right to access to justice: the role of public interest litigation in Bangladesh. Australian Journal of Asian Law, 21(2), 99–117.
Orth, U. (2002). Secondary Victimization of Crime Victims by Criminal Proceedings. Social Justice Research, 15(4), 313–325. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1021210323461
Patterson, D. (2010). The Linkage Between Secondary Victimization by Law Enforcement and Rape Case Outcomes. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26(2), 328–347. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260510362889
Saha, K. P., Rahman, M., Mahmud, S., Monsur, A., & Chakrabarty, P. K. (2009). Medico legal aspect of rape. TAJ: Journal of Teachers Association, 22(1), 111–114.
The Daily Star. (2026). Conviction rate in rape cases close to zero. https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/conviction-rate-rape-cases-close-zero-4121746
Wilson, K. (2024). Confronting Rape Culture: Challenging Norms and Promoting Consent. Fear2freedom. https://fear2freedom.org/confronting-rape-culture-challenging-norms-and-promoting-consent/









